Dirty Dozen Blog Hop: JEFF ADAMS

I’m excited to be on Nic’s blog today as part of the Dirty Dozen Blog Hop. These were some fun questions to answer. Make sure you leave a comment below since that gets you entered into the Dirty Dozen giveaway, which includes a free ebook from each of the twelve authors. If you leave me any questions, I will stop by an answer them, too.

AE: Do you fully outline a book? Or do you sit and let the thoughts flow as you type?

The more I write the more I find myself outlining so I know the gist of what’s supposed to happen in each chapter. Knowing what needs to happen in the chapter, I just let the thoughts flow from there.

Aisling: Describe your writing style in five words and what about that style sets you apart from other authors in your genre(s)?

I have no idea how to describe it. Maybe my readers can chime in and tell me what they think my style is.

Alexa: What are you currently working on, and what can we expect from you in 2016?

I’m currently working on a tangent to the Hat Trick series, focusing on Leo and Matt, who got together in the first book and showed up in the rest. Fans have asked for their story, so it’s time to write it. In 2016 I’ve got plans for one more book set in the Hat Trick universe involving the youth team created in Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot.  I’m also looking at a sequel to Flipping For Him, which is planned to be a collaboration with a friend, as well as starting a series about a gay, sixteen-year-old hockey player/computer genius who has a few secrets. One of the things I’m most excited about is co-writing with Wade Kelly!

Carter: What’s the answer to the one question no interviewer has ever asked? (You don’t have to supply the question.)

Peanut Butter Oreos

Jeff: When you’re stuck on a story, what do you do to get the words flowing again?

Put the story aside, maybe only for a day, or maybe longer. If it’s longer, I’ll work on something else while my brain figures out the problem with the original story.

LE: What’s your favorite scene from your own work and the one that’s lingered longest from someone else’s.

From my own work: In Hat Trick 2: Playing the Rebound, Simon gives a speech at a high school about coming out and being an ally. I love what goes down during the speech because it shows the power of being true to yourself.

From someone else’s: There’s a scene in Sarina Bowen’s excellent Understatement of the Year that’s set in a hospital after one of the main characters has been seriously hurt in a hockey game. He keeps yelling out a name, and there are far reaching consequences to the yelling. I read that book back in January and that still sticks with me.

Morticia: What is your favorite genre to read? Least favorite?

Contemporary YA is my favorite. Least is hard to pin point as it’s hard to eliminate a whole genre. I’ll say I don’t tend to read much horror or historical.

Nic: Tell us about your writing environment and where your writing time fits into your daily or weekly schedule.

I mostly write in my home office. During the week, I try to get three hours in a day, and at least that on the weekend days, if not more. Those hours are split up between writing new stories, editing and marketing tasks.

Nicole: How do you manage all of your new plot bunnies and what is your process to work on one?

I have a notebook I keep track of various ideas in. As I get ready to work on them in more detail, I’ll move the ideas on to a whiteboard or chalkboard so I can go more in depth and plot out the idea. Eventually it all moves into Scrivener so I can do even more plot details, character sketches, etc and have it all in one central place that’s accessible from wherever I am so I can always work.

TM: What keeps you focused when writing? 

I’ve been using the Pomodoro method, where I focus for twenty minutes on just writing. The office door is closed, Facebook, email and other things are turned off. Whatever my soundtrack for the session is going and I write until the timer goes off. Then there’s a five-minute break followed by another twenty minutes of writing. After three sprints, I’ll take a longer break before doing another cycle. Ideally I end up with six hundred to seven hundred words per sprint.

Tempe: In a perfect world, would you write full time? If so, would it ll be mm/LGBT or would there be some mf in there too?

Absolutely. I’m hoping I get to that point over the next five years. I don’t think all of my stories will have a romance front and center, but I think it’s safe to say that LGBTQ characters will always be the main characters, although being LGBTQ may not be the most interesting thing about them or what the story is about.

Wade: What influenced your decision to write in this genre?

It was the genre that best fit the stories I wanted to tell.

About Jeff

Jeff’s written stories since he was in middle school and became a gay romance writer in 2009 when his first short stories were published. Since then he’s written several more shorts and novels, including some in the young adult genre, and he plans to keep writing as long as wonderful readers keeping picking up his books.

Jeff lives in rural Northern California with his husband of twenty years, Will. Some of his favorite things include the musicals Rent and [title of show], the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey teams, and the reality TV competition So You Think You Can Dance. If forced to pick his favorite book it would be a tie between Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and David Levithan’s Every Day.

Learn more at jeffadamswrites.com

Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot Blurb

Life has a sneaky way of checking you into the boards.

The relationship that began when Simon Roberts and Alex Miller were in high school is about to cross another milestone as they begin their final year at the University of Michigan. It’s been four amazing years of love, friends and hockey.

Now it’s time to help pay it forward.

When a talented sixteen-year-old goalie is denied placement on a youth league roster, he asks Simon and Alex to coach a team of LGBT youth and allies. With the determination, hard work, and help of an amazing group of friends, they rally the team towards a winning season.

In the final installment of the best selling Hat Trick trilogy, Simon and Alex find everything they’ve worked so hard for is in jeopardy. When they’re thrown a devastating curve ball, the far-reaching implications put their entire future together on the line.